Origins and reception

Process oriented psychology was originated in the 1970s by Arnold Mindell, an American Jungian analyst then living in Switzerland.[4]:107 It began as a development of Jungian psychology with the concept of a ‘dreambody’ that extended dream analysis to include work with people’s body symptoms and bodily experiences.[4][9][10] Jungian analyst June Singer commented that Mindell’s work ‘expands the scope of Jung's psychology to include not only the psyche but also the body, relationships and the total environment.'[6]:40 Stanislav Grof has described Arnold Mindell as one of the ‘pioneers of transpersonal psychology.’[2]:102 Mindell’s concepts of 'deep democracy' and 'worldwork' have been identified as part of a toolkit for transformational change which supports collective governance.[17]:136

Process Work is recognised within the field of body psychotherapy and somatic psychology[3]:65[5]:61–70[18] and known for an emphasis on movement and body feeling.[19][20][21] Mindell was one of five people honored in 2012 with a Pioneer Award from the US Association of Body Psychotherapy.[22] Following the publication of Mindell’s book Dreambody in 1982, it reportedly gained a ‘worldwide following in the field of holistic healing’ although remaining little known in 'traditional psychological circles.'[23]

Process Work is described as an integrative and holistic approach to understanding a range of human behaviours.[8] It is characterized as creative and improvisational: a ‘fluid, flexible, playful approach, using some basic principles to improvise effective approaches to whatever comes its way, even-handedly weaving together the personal, political, the bodily, the relational and the spiritual aspects of existence.’[24] It is considered to have similarities with Eugene Gendlin’s Focusing[9]:335[25] and is identified with a focus on the unknown aspects of experience:

'Process Work... seeks to encounter with the unknown and the irrational side of life.... [It] appreciates symptoms and disturbances of any sort, not as pathologies to be healed or transcended or somehow got rid of, but as expressions of the very thing we need for our further growth, happiness, or enlightenment.'[26]

From its original ‘dreambody’ concept, Process Work developed a theory and ways of working with altered states of consciousness including near death and coma[27] and experiences given psychiatric diagnoses.[28][29] Mindell’s book on coma and palliative care[30] inspired a UK theatre production performed in Edinburgh[31] and London.[32][33] Process Work and Arnold Mindell are also known for a theory and methods for working with conflict resolution and leadership issues, in groups and organisations.[34][35][36][37]

Process oriented psychology has been associated with alternative spirituality movements.[7] It is considered an example of a modern Western eclectic adaptation of shamanism[38] and has been taught at the Findhorn community in north-east Scotland.[39]Fred Alan Wolf cites Mindell’s ‘dreambody’ concept[40] and the Institute of Noetic Sciences lists Mindell in their directory.[41]

Theory and practices

Process

The theory of process oriented psychology centres around the idea of ‘process’: a meaningful, connected pattern over time that can be observed and tracked through non-intentional signals (e.g. non-verbal communication, body symptoms, dreams, accidents, conflicts).[1]:29–30 It is claimed that becoming consciously aware of the ‘dreaming process’ may help to deal with disturbances including mental and physical distress, relationship troubles and social issues.[42][43] The theory of a ‘dreaming process’ began with Arnold Mindell’s concept of the ‘dreambody,’ developed from Jungian dream analysis and the observation that dreams and body symptoms were meaningfully connected.[6]:26–9 Mindell asserted that a therapist could work with body experiences to reveal the unconscious just as they could work with dreams.[4]:107–108

Process Work's contention of a link between dreams and body symptoms is a viewpoint similar to shamanism, ‘mankind's oldest medicinal doctrine, where illness reflects one's spiritual condition.’[9]:523 Mindell’s theory has also been compared to another Jungian, Meredith Sabini, who similarly recognises a symbolic relationship between dream images and physical symptoms, and values their role in bringing awareness of a person’s individuation process, the development of the Jungian Self.[9]:524 Mindell is recognised for providing a method of working psychologically with body symptoms using the technique of ‘amplification’; this involves intensifying the experience of a symptom or a dream and following its expression through the various ‘channels’ of perception until the meaning of the ‘dreambody’ is revealed to the client.[9]:524–5

The idea of a ‘dreambody’ was generalised to the concept of a ‘dreaming process’: a potentially meaningful pattern within symptoms, dreams and other irrational or disturbing aspects of our experience.[5]:65 Totton explains that for process oriented psychology, ‘dreaming’ refers to any ‘extra-conscious signals through which our process communicates itself.’[4]:28 The signals of a ‘dreaming process’ go beyond nighttime dreams and body symptoms to include ‘daydreams, imagery and flickers of awareness that come and go.’[44]:313 For Process Work, ‘dreaming’ can be defined as ‘the unconscious activity of the person, both when they are asleep and when they are awake.’[1]:29 Shafton comments that Mindell, along with Walter Bonime, Fritz Perls, Strephon Williams, Jeremy Taylor and Eugene Gendlin, makes the assumption that ‘dreamlike symbolic processes occur in waking’ and accordingly applies dreamwork techniques to aspects of conscious experience.[9]:335

The ‘dreaming process’ is believed to have a meaningful, purposeful direction of change, reflecting the influence of Taoism and Jungian psychology.[6]:27–8 The dreaming process can be understood as the Jungian unconscious ‘seeking integration, and … creating opportunities for the individual to grow in conscious awareness.’[1]:29

An important conceptual distinction for process oriented psychology is between the ‘primary’ (intended) and the ‘secondary’ (unintended) aspects of a given behaviour or experience:

people at any given moment experienc[e] a ‘primary process’- aspects of our experience with which we identify - and a 'secondary process' - aspects with which we find it hard to identify and which are trying insistently to enter our awareness.[4]:108

For an individual, the primary or intended aspects of communication and behaviour will be shaped by conscious norms and values, while secondary processes will include disturbing, challenging or irrational experiences that are further from awareness and often overtly marginalised.[1]:29 Process Work aims to integrate secondary processes into a person's primary, conscious awareness to reduce the disturbance and access its potential for meaning and growth.[1]:30

Process Work theory includes a framework of experiential ‘channels’ through which the dreaming process is expressed; these channels include the visual, auditory, movement (kinaesthetic) and body feeling (proprioceptive) channels.[4]:108[37]:14 LikeGestalt therapy, Process Work tracks a person's experience as it shifts between different channels.[9]:525 Process Work is particularly known for using the channels of body awareness, movement and physical contact to explore psychological issues.[19]:9 The concept of a purposeful ‘dreaming process’ expressing itself through multiple ‘channels’ of experience is the theoretical basis for Process Work's ‘far-reaching and flexible approach, which uses essentially the same capacious toolbox to work with everything from bodily symptoms to couple relationships to political conflicts.’[4]:108

The theory and contentions of process oriented psychology have been described as an alternative to the mainstream of conventional, allopathic psychology.[45]:1–14 Process Work proposes that disturbing feelings, symptoms and behaviours be interpreted as 'an underlying urge toward health, wholeness, and diversity rather than pathology.'[45]:8 The theory suggests understanding the meaning of symptoms and disturbances rather than only focusing on modifying or eliminating them.[45]:8

Worldwork and Deep Democracy

The application of process oriented psychology to group issues is called ‘worldwork’ and a key concept is ‘deep democracy.’[11]:45–48 Worldwork includes theory and practices for working with conflict, leadership and social issues.[46][47]Brown and Harris (2014) explain:

Deep democracy was developed as a means of approaching the relationships among individual, organisational and social transformational change which support collective governance. Amy and Arnold Mindell’s world work framework draws on relativity concepts from physics to heighten awareness of the relationship element in all experience. A central concept is the validity of subjective inner and observable outer experience as two sides of the same coin.[17]:136

Process Work applications for groups have become known through Mindell’s books: The Leader as Martial Artist: An Introduction to Deep Democracy (1992)[48][49][50] and Sitting in the Fire: Large Group Transformation Using Conflict and Diversity(1995)[16][51][52] Mindell’s ideas of worldwork and deep democracy have been likened to the work of Danaan Parry.[11]:46[53]

For process oriented psychology, the concept of ‘deep democracy’ refers to a ‘belief in the inherent importance of all parts of ourselves and all viewpoints in the world around us.’[54] It aims to broaden the idea of democracy to include not only cognitive, rational viewpoints but also emotional experiences and intuition: 'Deep democracy awareness welcomes inner voices and makes use of diversity and existing tensions to access subjective experience, deeper vision and tangible results of the participants.'[17]:136 Similarly, the author John Bradshaw explains:

Deep democracy, as the psychologist Arnold Mindell points out in his book, The Leader as Martial Artist, is a timeless feeling of shared compassion for all living beings. It is a sense of the value and importance of the whole, including and especially our own personal reality. Deeply democratic people value every organ in their body as well as their inner feelings, needs, desires, thoughts and dreams.[55]

Worldwork includes group techniques for developing awareness of social issues like racism[58] and has been used to deal with post-conflict trauma.[59] Worldwork has been described as the ‘attempt to apply psychotherapy in the sphere of political conflict without privileging the therapeutic over the political,’[11]:48 because it takes on the challenge of supporting all sides of a conflict while dealing with the real politics of inequality. Totton notes that ‘so far worldwork has not resolved this problem--perhaps it cannot be resolved, but only held in continual tension.’[11]:48 Similarly, Worldwork has been described as ‘group therapy in public’: a group work technique aiming to bring awareness to ‘the hidden emotional undercurrents surrounding social issues - like racism - that are rarely addressed publicly.’[14] Totton comments that worldwork is ‘difficult: experimental, stirring, demanding every ounce of flexibility and awareness from all the participants … but also tremendously hopeful.’[11]:46

An example of ‘worldwork’ with social tensions in large groups was reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.[13] In 1992, a racially diverse group of 200 people gathered in Oakland, CA to explore racial tensions, using Process Work techniques. This reportedly involved the expression of pain, anger and grief in a public forum with a focus on authentic, personal dialogue between individuals from opposing sides of a social issue.[13] The Chronicle comments:

Using role-playing exercises, body awareness and other techniques, Mindell tries to intensify the conflict under controlled situations - hoping that through some cathartic process, conflict will reconcile itself.[13]

The Chronicle reports that the group moved from angry heated conflict between a black and a white man, to a black man emotionally expressing his grief and pain, and finally the group 'melted into one giant, wailing, hugging mass of black and white humanity.'[13]

The Process Work approach to leadership and conflict facilitation is based on the idea of deep democracy; it tries to build awareness of the bigger picture and develop compassion for all sides in a conflict,[60][61] an approach that Mindell refers to as ‘eldership.’[62] Process oriented psychology is known for a positive model of conflict, seeing it as an opportunity for growth and community; Mindell, like the authors Thomas Crum and Danaan Parry, suggests that dealing with personal conflicts better can create global change.[63] The model of conflict resolution involves identifying the sides in the conflict as roles and having the conflicting parties experiment with expressing all roles, swapping sides until greater understanding is achieved.[64] Conflict is understood as a sign that at least one viewpoint or experience within the group is not being adequately represented and Process Work aims to bring these ‘ghosts’ into conscious awareness and dialogue.[11]:46[65]:56,58

Research

Process oriented psychology is one of eleven psychotherapeutic modalities examined in a Swiss longitudinal study of therapeutic effectiveness[66] completed in 2012.[67] There are published studies of the clinical application of Process Work to group therapy with people experiencing mental illness[68] and to the care of elders with dementia.[69] A Japanese case study has described the application of process oriented psychology to the treatment of a woman with symptoms including major depression and an eating disorder, concluding that the method can be effective in the resolution of psychosomatic problems.[70] Process Work has been used to extend play therapy techniques and found to enrich therapeutic work with children experiencing parental separation issues.[71] The process oriented psychology approach to clinical supervision has been documented and shown to offer experiential and phenomenological techniques to work with signals, roles and the "parallel dynamics" that occur within client-counsellor and counsellor-supervisor interactions.[72]

An Australian case study has considered the use of process oriented psychology for tackling the problems of intercultural communication in higher education; it finds that Process Work has a multidimensional concept of social rank (expanded beyond social status to include ‘psychological’ and ‘spiritual’ aspects) which promotes understanding of interpersonal communication issues and could be used to improve international student experience in Australia.[73]

Organisations

Process oriented psychology is represented by a professional organisation called the International Association of Practitioners of Process Oriented Psychology (IAPOP).[74] The Association recognises over 25 training centres around the world including the UK, Poland, India, Greece, Israel, Palestine, Russia, the Ukraine and the US.[75] The first teaching organisation was founded in Zürich in 1982 and is now known as the Institute for Process Work (Institut für Prozessarbeit IPA), an accredited Training Institute for psychotherapy in Switzerland.[76] The Research Society for Process Oriented Psychology in the UK (RSPOPUK)’s Training Programme is accredited by the United Kingdom Council of Psychotherapy, within the Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy Section.[77] In the US, the first training centre was established in 1989 in Portland, Oregon, now known as the Process Work Institute,[78] while the Deep Democracy Institute was founded in 2006.[79]